You arrived with a bang during fireworks at Disney
a treat to start the year,
with my mum, dad, Grace and me
an atmosphere full of cheer.
Some news reports arrived from China
a novel virus had been found,
we joked over dinner at an American diner
no thoughts of it coming inbound.
Back in Italy my birthday arrived
a fabulous weekend of fun,
feeling happy, healthy, loved and revived
unaware the virus wasn’t done.
Bookings were good and all seemed fine
Dean’s pranks kept locals smiling,
chatting to friends with a glass of wine
without realisation of people dying.
In just one week we had 1400 cases
at first contained in the north,
it rapidly spread to other places
as people moved back and forth.
Some say too late, we got locked down
the mood began to change,
masked trips to get food from town
and Zoom chats with friends to arrange.
At first we loved the new pace of life
working hard outside in the sun,
Grace home schooled without much strife
inventing challenges to have fun.
Our lockdown videos kept people engaged
Dean’s Tik Tok moves were top,
we lost count of the games we played
then reality made us stop.
From countries to continents it spread like fire
no longer an epidemic,
the situation was declared quite dire
WHO announced a true pandemic.
Travel was banned, it hit us hard
our guests began to cancel,
aware we wouldn’t escape unscarred
the effects would be substantial.
Not all was lost we worked a bit
some people made it out,
of course we took a massive hit
of that there is no doubt.
September arrived, school was back
things were looking better,
but 2 weeks later a second attack
poor Grace, the news upset her.
October came, we picked our olives
under the warm autumn sun,
serenaded by our family of robins
three days and all was done.
November was our saddest time
we lost our little boy,
all thoughts of COVID set aside
we grieved our furry joy.
Christmas came, we stayed at home
ate, drank and watched TV,
in three, at least we weren’t alone
worse places we could be!
I feel it’s time to say goodbye
to a year I won’t forget,
I’ve laughed, I’ve stressed and even cried
but the time I won’t regret.
My family and friends are healthy and well
for this I’m truly grateful,
it might have been the year from hell
and for many one quite fatal.
Thanks for all your support everyone
it’s helped us, I must admit,
we hope to see you in 2021
unless it turns to s**t